Whilst staying with Kayleigh and George in Dunsborough, we decided that due to the state of our finances, it was time to start looking for some work. According to everybody we had spoken to it would be easy getting jobs with our combined skill set, so we started looking and applying. However, easy was definitely not the case. There wasn’t a lot going around and we soon realised we couldn’t be fussy so we started applying for pretty much anything. Meanwhile, Kayleigh and George took us to see some nice beach spots and introduced us to amazing wines. I had also decided to start making beachy, surf jewellery to pass our spare time whilst camping and to perhaps sell. I picked up a few supplies from the spotlight and on the days of heavy rain in Dunsborough, Jamie and I sat making bracelets and anklets. Despite having been roped into it, Jamie was annoyingly far more patient than I was and therefore managed to produce much nicer stuff. We’re both pretty certain we’ll have a million dollar jewellery empire in no time…or maybe not!!
Since we were still in Dunsborough, we decided to visit nearby Busselton to walk the longest jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. At 1.841 km long it was quite an impressive jetty with a tram that even runs the entire length. At the end of the jetty, there is an underwater observatory and you can also go snorkelling there. As it wasn’t the best weather we opted out of the snorkelling. We decided to return the next day as well, as the Busselton Jetty Swim event was on. The swimmers completed a 4km swim through fairly deep ocean, all the way around the jetty. Impressively, even kids as young as 12 were completing this in under an hour. The event also had a concert and we got to see Shannon Noll performing all his hits!! He was actually a very good performer, despite my earlier reservations! We also wandered through a craft market where I saw people with really good handmade jewellery businesses that made our jewellery look like it was made by a 4 year old. It was a good day to be in Busselton as the ship Queen Mary II was docked there as well, and all the people were getting off the ship to explore the town and do tours such as scenic helicopter rides. All the residents of Busselton seemed to love Pumba, and as we walked him around he got the most praise and pats of anywhere we had been.
When it was time to head off we said our goodbyes to Kayleigh and George and thanked them for the luxury of a proper bed and shower. We then headed into Bunbury, known for the wild dolphins that come into shore frequently. A visit to the dolphin discovery centre was interesting and we got to see octopus, Port Jackson sharks, and various fish in the aquarium section. The centre had also rescued a green sea turtle, which we watched at feeding time. The turtle had been suffering from floating syndrome, which is common among turtles and one major cause of this is ingesting bits of plastic. Once being rehabilitated the centre will release the turtle back into the wild. It’s a great reminder to everyone how badly litter can affect sea creatures. Unfortunately for us the wild dolphins had already visited that day, and none could be seen out in the ocean so we camped overnight in a nearby caravan park so we could get up early and try for the dolphins again the next day. When we arrived the next morning we spotted a few swimming in the distance but none came in close so we gave up and continued on.
Our next stop was Golden Ponds, a marron and fish farm/caravan park, as Jamie’s friend Colinn was staying there at the time for work. We got to catch up with him that night and have a few beers. Golden Ponds was an interesting place, with over 10 purpose built lakes that you could pay to fish or catch marron from. It made for quite a pretty setting. In the morning we just so happened to be next door to an outdoor Wake Board Park. Having never been to one we thought it would be great fun to try it out. Instead of wakeboarding behind a speedboat, a large cable pulls you around the lake so that about 8-10 people can be wakeboarding at once. The park also had jumps and rails for the people who really knew what they were doing. After one failed start, Jamie already had the hang of it. I took about six stacks before I finally got up and could board around the whole course. It was pretty fun, but also very exhausting and quite a strain on my arms. Little did I know at the time that I would be very sore in the shoulders for the next 4 days or so.
We then headed to our next stop, which was another friends house. By some miracle we had managed to coincide a visit with my good friend Eleanor and her husband Fuzz, with my other two friends Kate and Bianca who had flown from Adelaide. We were able to spend a full 4 days with all of them. Eleanor is only a few weeks from giving birth to her first child so we spent quite a bit of time baking enough food to fill her freezer for when the baby first arrives. We also helped pick out some baby stuff at Baby Bunting (whilst Jamie went surfing), and got to just hang out and go to the beach. We had about a week of 35+ weather so we were pretty happy to spend most of the time indoors. We did get to check out the Fringe for its last weekend in Perth (though I would have to say Adelaide’s Fringe is a bit better). On Bianca and Kate’s last day we had brunch at a café that had a special dog menu for when you bring your dog. We ordered an ice-cream sunday for Pumba which he noisily licked at for a good 10 minutes. Jamie and I were both slightly embarrassed that we were “those people” that brought their dogs to a café and ordered things off a menu for them, but admittedly it was quite funny. It will be the last time that Pumba gets treated like royalty!
Jamie and I stayed on another week with Eleanor and Fuzz and it was good to get a chance to spend some time with them. We kept up the search for jobs but decided that Margaret River and Dunsborough weren’t coming up with much in the way of work, so we changed our search to Coral Bay and surrounds. We also did some exploring around the area and Jamie managed to get a surf most days. Trigg Point was a popular surf break that provided consistent waves, but was also massively crowded at all times. At one point a shark had been spotted there and all surfers were told to get out of the water. Jamie and a few other surfers refused to listen and took the opportunity to catch a few waves without all the people around, until the surf lifesaving boats had to physically push them back into shore with the boats. We also went out to Fremantle to explore, as Jamie had never been there. We had a good look around and finished with an amazing 10 free beer tastings at the Little Creatures Brewery. Having liked the brewery so much we decided to meet up with another of Jamie’s friends, Kyle (also over for work) at Little Creatures. We had dinner there and the boys spent most of the time paying out the craft beer hipsters that were everywhere. Regardless, it was a very impressive looking brewery right on the wharf of Fremantle. At this stage we had been offered a job on a station near Coral Bay as staionhand/caravan park managers. Eager to finally have some work lined up we jumped on the chance and now have a start date of 20 March, which gives us 3 weeks to explore the coast on the way up. It comes with accommodation and they allow Pumba to stay there as well, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity. As well as that, we will be able to do the swim with the whale sharks at Ningaloo reef, which has been on our bucket list for quite some time.
For our last day in Perth we had booked fast ferry tickets to go out to Rottnest Island as neither of us had been there before and it seemed a shame to miss out when we were so close. The ferry was only 40 minutes over there but a tad rough. It was perfect weather once on the island and we had borrowed Fuzz and Eleanors bikes so we could ride around. It was a beautiful island with numerous gorgeous turquoise coloured bays for swimming and snorkelling, but our main highlight was the super friendly creatures called Quokkas. Rottnest Island had actually been named “Rat Nest Island” because of the funny large rat-like creatures that dwelled there. These rat-like creatures are the Quokka’s, which are like a very small wallaby crossed with a very large rat. They were incredibly friendly and so cute. They would crawl right up onto our laps (even though you technically weren’t supposed to touch them). We got a whole bunch of good photos including a few selfies with them. All within the day trip we managed to cycle 22kms, snorkel twice in beautiful clear bays, have a picnic lunch and spot over 20 Quokka’s. It was a pretty amazing day to say the least. We went home exhausted but happy.
The next day it was time to be back on the road, so we once again said goodbye and thankyou to our gracious hosts, Elle and Fuzz. We were immediately hot and somehow already dirty the moment we were back on the road. The whole week is once again forecast for 30 degrees and over which is good for the beach at least. The next morning we headed out to the Pinnacles. I didn’t have much of an expectation for the Pinnacles and was surprised how amazing they were. For those that aren’t aware, the Pinnacles are a geological formation about 200km north of Perth. They are limestone pillars (anywhere from 50cm to 4m in height) in a sandy landscape that spans a large area. They are like nothing else I have seen anywhere else in the world and are really cool to see and explore.
Well that’s all for now folks, we’ll keep you all updated on the next few weeks of our trip as we make our way up to the Station to start work. Talk again soon!!
